The Taming of the Crew
by Sa'avryn
Summary: It's not easy to try to find your place among a new crew, a fact that Kaicen Aliotto is learning all to well. Slight SaNa inclanations, and perhaps some RoKai
1. Do it like yourself

A.N. Yea! I'm starting another Fic involving my Favorite OC, Kaicen Aliotto! If you want to know EVERYTHING about him, go read The Silence of the Singing Isle. If you don't, I have a sucky little summary for you.

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Previously on One Piece, The Mugiwara pirate crew, after drifting at sea, starving made their way to an uncharted isle. There they stumbled upon an odd village where no one sang. Robin went exploring and was tragically captured by a Vice-admiral in the navy. There she met a man who helped her to escape.

A great brawl commenced in which Kaicen, the man Robin met, and Luffy strove against Vice-admiral Saros. Kaicen sacrificed his hands, Luffy beat the tar out of the Vice-admiral, and they all escaped happily ever after, Kaicen joining the crew of the Merry go.

Luffy's orders to him were to take a bath, and to learn how to kick from Sanji

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**The Taming of the Crew: Chapter 1**

**Do it like yourself**

"No, baka!" Sanji's voice rang above the normal sounds of chaos that were ever present on the decks of the Merry Go. With a vein visibly throbbing in his temples he 'gently' corrected his protégé as the older man attempted to break a plank. Gently to Sanji meant not kicking literally his student right off of the ship. "You strike with the heel, if you connect with your toes you'll break your foot."

"Right." Kaicen said, repositioning his stance, and trying to emulate the flawless perfection that was Sanji's axe kick. Though by no means a slow learner, at twenty-five years of age, Kaicen was finding it difficult to perfect this new fighting style that Luffy had ordered him to learn. Not that his teacher was especially easy to work with. At times Kaicen was _completely_ certain that the only reason that Sanji had agreed to train him was the opportunity it presented the cook to kick his butt.

The two men never had gotten along, ever since the little squabble they had over the 'love parfait' Sanji had made for Robin. To Sanji; Kaicen was a food-thief, the worst possible thing to be on the high seas, and he resented the older man's lecherous intentions with his darling Robin-chan. To Kaicen, Sanji was a hateful little boy who fumed petulantly whenever he tried to even talk to Robin, and heaven forbid he EVER bring up Nami…

Only once had Kaicen complained about the navigator to Sanji. The resulting brawl had lasted all of two seconds before Nami's fists had descended, rendering the two combatants down, each nursing an impressive goose egg. Glaring daggers at each other they each went their own way, all the while Zoro laughed so hard that he thought he was going break a rib.

"Sanji, Food!" Luffy called from his favorite perch, as he stood and approached the ongoing martial arts lesson, curiosity etched into his features.

"Ne?" Sanji asked, turning his attention away from his pathetic student he looked at his watch. _Was it really that late_ Trust Luffy to remind Sanji about a meal, even if usually he was already making it before his captain even noticed. 11:30 a.m., Damn… he wouldn't have time to make something elaborate for His Nami-swan and Robin-chwan, unless… "Oi, Luffy, how do you feel about sandwiches?"

"Meat sandwiches?" the captain asked in interest.

"But of course." Sanji smiled, and then almost lost his footing as Luffy began shoving him towards the kitchen. "But I need a favor from you."

"What'cha need?"Luffy asked.

"I need you to supervise Bishy-boy's training." Sanji knew that Luffy was the _worst_ person to assign a trainee to, because the captain had an attention-span the size of a gnat's belch, but he didn't care. If Kaicen was serious about learning how to kick he wouldn't let Luffy distract him. At this thought Sanji had to smile to himself, he knew how hard it was to ignore Luffy, and he didn't think the other man had it in him. "Ok?"

"Yosh!" Luffy cheered. The truth is that he was bored, Usopp and Chopper were both busy, and he really didn't have anything to do. But now he had Kaicen to play with. "You hear that, Kaicen?"

"Yeah… Ya! …Captain." Kaicen said, as he continued to train. "I heard."

"Now, don't stop, and for God's sake man, raise that leg fully up, like this!" Sanji instructed, pulling himself into a standing split. Kaicen's eyes almost watered in sympathetic pain. "If you don't you'll never do any damage to anyone you fight."

"Yes, Sanji…" Came the dutiful reply. Smirking to himself, Sanji headed towards the kitchen to prepare the midday meal. He was sure that Kaicen would fail the test of his resolve that was Luffy when he was in a playful mood.

Half an hour later Kaicen was groaning in frustration. He just _couldn't_ bend the way that Sanji could, and because of that his technique was suffering.

"Why are you doing it like that?" Luffy asked in curiosity as Kaicen attempted the axe kick for the thousandth time. "I mean, it's obvious you can't do the splits like me and Sanji."

"Because…" Kaicen said, shaking sweat and hair out of his eyes. He was practicing the kick in nothing but his old pair of ragged shorts, and linen hand-wrappings. Raising his foot as high as he could, which was only chest level, he brought it down in a controlled motion, stopping just short of it's target. "…Because this is how I was… instructed to do it."

"But you're not doing anything."

"I know… But you told me to learn this… so I'm gonna keep doing it…. Till I get it." Again came the foot down, but this time faster.

Luffy couldn't argue with him, he didn't care to either. What he wanted to do was be entertained, and Kaicen was proving to be a most unsatisfactory playmate. "I'm bored… let's go play a game!"

"Can't…"

"Why not?"

"Training…" Again the leg came down incorrectly, again Kaicen groaned in frustration. He'd _never_ be able to do this like the cook had.

"Kaicen…" Luffy asked.

"Yeah?"

"Don't do it like Sanji," Luffy said with a shrug. "Do it like yourself."

Taken aback, Kaicen paused with a foot high in the air, almost loosing his balance. For a long moment the two men just looked at each other, until Sanji's call of "LUNCH!" broke the tableau. Like a shot Luffy was off, cheering and headed towards the galley to eat his fill.

While the rest of the crew was eating, Kaicen stood outside, thinking. Do it like himself… Why didn't it ever occur to him? It made perfect sense when _Luffy_ said it. Taking the piece of wood that Sanji had sent him to break, Kaicen propped it up, and lifted his leg high above it.

_Do it like yourself…_

Taking a deep breath, he made one last attempt to break the plank.

_Do it like yourself…_

A second later the plank lay in two pieces at his feet, and a grin plastered his face. He had done it, he had actually broken it. It wasn't like Sanji, who would have shattered the board with one mighty blow, it was his own way, a flurry of lesser kicks directed at the same spot.

The lone sound of applause coming from behind him sent Kaicen whirling. There was Sanji, cigarette perched in his lips, a smile on his face. "Good job."

They were two simple words, but they were enough.

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A.N. short, I know, but hey, it's a start. I think that this shows the nature of their relationship. Sanji sees Kaicen as weak and contemptable, and Kaicen sees Sanji as immature, with anger issues. 


	2. Pin the nose on the doctor

**A.N. I know it's been far too long for both of my fans to wait, but here we have chapter two of the Taming series.**

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**Ch 2:  
Pin the nose on the Doctor**

After lunch was over, and the rest of the crew busied themselves on their self appointed tasks, Kaicen submitted himself to Chopper for the first of his soon to be daily torture sessions. Opening the door to the galley once Sanji had cleared out, his spirits fell to a new record low. He was _not_ looking forward to this, but he supposed that it had to be done.

"Do we really have to do this?" Kaicen asked, fighting a losing battle against the urge to flee from this place, and the certain torture that it promised. "I mean, my hands feel fine, great in fact!"

That was a lie. His hands itched and burned terribly from the sweat that he had built up on his skin during his martial arts training. But anything would be better than having that torture device digging its spiky barbs into his flesh.

"Sorry Kaicen, but we have to…" Chopper apologized to his patient as he unwrapped the bandages. The truth was that he didn't want to do this either, for hadn't Doctorine made him swear the Hippocratic Oath, to do no harm? As nice as such an oath was, Chopper knew that it was completely at odds with how the world actually worked. Healing meant pain, that's all there was to it. "We need to clear out any dead skin cells, and make sure that the area isn't infected."

"Alright…" Kaicen sighed, holding out his hands. Turning his head so he wouldn't have to see the disgusting remains of his once perfect hands, he jumped in surprise and pain as Chopper jabbed a needle into the bicep of his left arm. "OW! What'd you do that for?"

Holding up an empty syringe for Kaicen to see as he whipped his head around to look at the Reindeer in shock, Chopper explained. "It's morphine. You didn't think I'd do this without any anesthetics, did you?"

Chagrined, Kaicen smiled self-consciously, actually, he _had_ been thinking exactly that. "No, of course not Chopper… you just surprised me."

As Chopper went about his business, Kaicen settled down. It really wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. The bristles seemed softer, and the pain wasn't as intense as he thought it would have been. "Hey… would you like to hear a story while you work?"

"Ok!" Beamed Chopper, ever eager to hear a new tale. "What kind of story?"

"It's a legend from a tribe in the south blue." Kaicen said, a lazy grin on his face. Man, this morphine was _good_ stuff. "It's called; **How the Reindeer lost his nose.**"

"Lost his nose!" Chopper cried, slapping his hooves, wire brush and all over his bright blue nose. "That's a _terrible _story!"

"Nah… 's not so bad." Kaicen said as a lazy grin spread across his face. "They didn't loose their noses, just the color."

"Their color?"

"Yeah, the legend says that in the time before shadows, when the world was young, and every beginning was at its beginning /all/ reindeers had bright blue noses, much like yours." He said, tapping Chopper's nose with one fingernail.

"Really?" Chopper exclaimed, stars in his eyes, all brushing forgotten. "Sugoi!"

"Really… now, don't you want to get working before this _wonderful_ drug wears off?" The bard was chuckling as Chopper grew flustered, and hurriedly continued the cleaning of the charred flesh as Kaicen attempted to recall the rest of the legend. "On the Island of Kheridol in the South Blue there lived the first herd ofreindeer. As a whole, they were happy there, with one exception. This exception was a poor little deer who's nose was a black as coal. Because his nose was a different color he was hated by his entire herd, and spent most of his time alone."

"I know how that feels…" Chopper sighed, as memories of his own unhappy past began to resurface.

Luckily Kaicen's next words drove all such sad thoughts from the Doctor's mind. "Well, one day when the little deer was exploring the far side of the island he came upon a pirate ship."

"Pirates? Cool!" Copper exclaimed happily. "Did they let him join their crew?"

"No Chopper, and it's a good thing too… For you see they weren't good pirates like the Mugiwaras, they were vicious and mean pirates, pirates who wanted to steal the blue noses so they could sell them, and _eat _the reindeer." Kaicen explained, his voice growing a bit more serious to convey the threat of these legendary pirates.

"That's horrible!"

"That's exactly what the little heroic deer thought when he found out. So, to stop them he made a plan."

"What did he do?" Chopper asked in excitement, raptly listening to the story as he finished his task with the wire brush, and grabbed a new set of bandages. "Come on! Tell me, tell me!"

"Well, her knew he had to do _something_. Because if he didn't, his entire family would be killed and eaten, and that's a gruesome thought for anyone. So, he made a plan, he would go back and warn them all about the pirates."

"Did they listen to him?"

"Unfortunately they didn't, and the little deer was getting desperate." Kaicen said, shaking his head. "So, he did something that before that moment was unthinkable. He forever traded his ability to swim for the power to protect his family."

"He ate a devil fruit!"

"One of the first ones ever found. He thought he would be able to use his new ability to attack the pirates and drive them off, but he couldn't."

"So… the mean pirates won?" asked Chopper, his eyes almost filled to the brim with tears. "Is that why I'm the only reindeer with a blue nose?"

"Of course not." Kaicen grinned. "It's just that the fruit that our little hero ate was the Kuro Kuro no Mi."

"The Black Fruit?" Repeated Chopper, his mind buzzing with wonder. "What use would that have?"

"Well, it's a color changing fruit. With it he could turn anything black, so that's what he did. On the night of the pirate's attack they rounded up all the Reindeer and locked them in a cage, but our little hero came and turned his entire herd black."

"Then what happened?"

"Well," Kaicen ginned, getting into the story himself. "When the pirates came to check on their captives they couldn't see them. All they saw were lumpy _black_ things, and we all know that reindeer aren't black. I mean, the very idea is preposterous. As they opened the cage the reindeer bolted, running them over. There was a tremendous battle that night, and when dawn came upon the island the pirates had been driven back forever."

"Wow…" Chopper breathed.

"The now all black deer rejoiced in their regained freedom, and even more when the first rains came. As the water fell upon their coats all the black washed off onto the ground. Returning all the reindeer to their normal brown color."

"But, what about their noses?"

"Well, two things happened. The first thing was that the black color didn't come off of their noses. They liked that, because it reminded them of their little black-nosed hero. And the black on the ground, even though it wasn't on their bodies anymore still retained the shape of their bodes, and clung to their hooves. And that's how the Reindeer lost their noses, and why we have shadows today, because the black on the ground stuck to the feet of all those that passed by the reindeer, and so on and thus forth until everyone had at least a bit." With a smile the story ended, and much to both their surprise Chopper was done with the cleaning. "Thank you Chopper, for the drugs and the treatment. Now I know why you have a blue nose, you're a very special reindeer, and the best doctor I've ever met."

"Baka!" Chopper yelled as he danced in a squirming fashion, a great big grin plastered on his face. "Just because you say I'm special doesn't mean you made me happy, you Bastard!"

"Whatever you say." Kaicen grinned, amused with the deer's antics. "I'll tell you what; Tomorrow, if you bring more morphine, I'll tell you another legend, this time about why the sea kings are so huge!"

"Ok!" chirped Chopper as he began to tidy up the bloody mess. after a few seconds, he paused, "Oh, and Kaicen…"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for the story."

"My pleasure, Chopper."

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**A.N. Yea! Nakama till death! Kaicen had his first taste of Morphine, and Chopper got a great story out of the deal.**

**But there's one thing I still wanna know: What the hell is the plural for Reindeer?**

**Read and review, otherwise I'll sick my viscious purple attack monkeys on you.**


	3. Useless

The Taming of the Crew:

Chapter III:

Useless

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Somewhere in the not too far distance a herd of elephants thundered across the plain, not caring how noisy, or irksome they were being. The trumpets and calls of one to another rang in Kaicen's head and reverberated painfully. The only problem was that there were no elephants, and every little pop, stamp and hiss were contained in the poor man's own skull. 

"Ughh…." He moaned, trying without success to pull himself up from the heap that he was sprawled out in. In his mouth there was the distinct flavor of hours, if not days old bile, and his entire body felt as if it were many times heavier than it had any right to be. Collapsing back into his heap he allowed himself the small victory of pulling his messy white hair out of his eyes. "Wo happon…?"

"You blacked out." Usopp said matter-of-factly from his perch on the only thing even resembling a bed in the sparse cement cell. "Right after that big marine squashed you. Luckily the others got away while I, the Brave Captain Usopp, caused a distraction. I would have gotten away as well, if not for that damned smoky marine."

"Smoky marine?"

"Yeah… big, short white hair, always smoking two cigars." Usopp continued, leaning back against the dank wall. "Apparently he ate an Akuma no mi and can turn his body into smoke. We clashed with him a while back in Roguetown, and Alabasta. Way before your time."

"Ok… so where are we?" Kaicen asked, feeling a bit better.

"Where do you think?! In a Navy prison cell, Baka." Came the stinging reply.

"Is it a sea stone prison?"

"…. Um… Well, no…"

"Then where's the problem?" Kaicen asked as he pushed himself to his feet.

"I wouldn't do that…." Usopp said just as Kaicen came crashing down into a heap again with a startled whoop, then a loud moan that would surely attract the guard.

"What. The HELL. Are. On. My. Ankles?" Kaicen wondered aloud as he saw for the first time, the thick black double ring that bound his legs together just above the foot.

"They look like iron manacles." Usopp replied again, almost seeming tired to the older man. "It happened after you were running away from the pink haired woman."

"Wait…. What pink haired woman?" Looking at Usopp directly, something seemed off. "Was this before or after the great big marine smashed me… and why aren't you shaking… aren't you scared?"

Something seemed to snap in Usopp at that moment. "Of COURSE I'm scared! To tell the truth, I'm quivering in my boots. But there's just so long you can shake without wearing yourself out… and frankly, I'm tired of being so craven. Besides… not like you can do anything to escape either."

Usopp's reaction startled Kaicen. The two never had had much interaction with each other, so where did all this rancor come from? Just as he was about to press the subject further a very slim waisted woman with pink hair paced in front of the cell.

"Hina amused." She said as she looked at them, tapping her lips with the index finger on her right hand. "Never would have thought that any of the Mugiwara pirates would have gone down so easily… especially not 'Kaicen the Swift'"

It was a long moment before either of the two men could talk. 'Kaicen the Swift?' what was all that about? A wealth of information was passed from one pirate to another as the two nakama stared at each other in disbelief. Slowly their gaze was pulled back to the marine once more.

"Wa… what?" Came the undignified question, whether from Usopp or Kaicen neither was sure. "Kaicen the what?"

"The swift." Hina replied. "Hina annoyed." Taking a roll of parchment from her belt she tossed it into the cell where it uncurled into a slightly less tightly furled scroll. When it was opened it revealed a very blurry looking picture that could have been from either a man, or a woman. All that was sure was that the offender had long white hair.

"Well, this CAN'T be me…" Kaicen protested. "I've never even moved past a crawl in my entire like. The entire statement was a bald faced lie for the man carried himself lightly on the balls of his feet, and his entire whip lean frame cried **RUNNER.** He wasn't surprised when no one believed him.

"It doesn't matter who you claim to be. Hina has an eyewitness to who this is." She stated. "He will arrive in two days, and when he does…. Well, Hina wouldn't like to be in your shoes." Turning on her heel, she left without giving either of them a second look.

"That's the pink haired woman that put those things around your feet." Usopp supplied, not that Kaicen needed him to. He was a big boy, and could put two and two together and get five… math never had been his strong suit in his studies.

"Yeah… thanks…" Was it just his imagination, or had a noticeable chill settled over the cell. "So… what's the plan?"

"The plan?"

Yeah, the plan to get out of here, and back to the ship."

"Hmm…" Mused Usopp, putting a hand to his chin and stroking his non-existent facial hair. "How about you tell them stories…. That'll fix _everything!_"

"Excuse me?" Came the baffled response.

"Or… I know! How about you play a game with them? That _always _helps."

"Did I do something to offend…"

Cutting in, Usopp continued his rant. "Or, how about you and Franky build some giant machine that can bust you out of here…"

"Wha?"

"Or maybe you and Nami can steal the keys from the guards… or you and Zoro can slash your way out… Since you're so very _good _at _everything_!"

"Usopp…"

"Oh, no… I forgot," Usopp went on, lost in his own little frenzy. "You haven't trained with Zoro… so how about this: You and Sanji can go and kick your way out of here, and then go flirt with all the pretty marine girls?"

"Usopp."

"And then you can go and play that game with Luffy, or go fishing with him… or do whatever the hell it is you want to with them, and just leave me here to die, unneeded and useless!!!"

"Usopp!" Kaicen shot back, hopping to his knees then his feet. This time he remembered the shackles around his ankle.

"What!?" The marksman responded, tears of anger and self-pity hanging unshed in his brown eyes.

"You're not useless!"

"Yes I am!" Sniffed the boy, the water works beginning as the older man took a seat next to him. "I was the one they came to for stories… I was the one they came to for games. When the Merry Go was injured, I was the one to fix her. And now… now I'm just the useless one." Sniffing, he blew his nose on a dirty rag. "I can't navigate like Nami. I didn't eat an Akuma no Mi like you, Robin, Luffy and Chopper. I'm not monstrously strong like Sanji and Zoro… and I'm not part machine like Franky. I'm a nothing. I don't even have the Merry Go anymore… the best gift I've ever received… and it's _gone_!"

Kaicen let the younger man cry. It would do him good. After a while he felt it was time to intervene. "That's not how I see it."

"It… it's not?" came the sniffling question.

"No. Not at all." Kaicen continued in his 'soothing' voice. It was good enough to calm colicky babies, so it should suffice to soothe the younger man. "I see a brave warrior of the sea who uses his mind to vanquish foes that are infinitely stronger than he is physically."

"…You do?"

"I do." Kaicen nodded. Playing on the glimmer of hope he heard in the voice. "I haven't been with the Mugiwara no Kaizoku for very long, but I've heard many tales of your bravery, Brave Captain Usopp."

"You…" Sniff "…you have?"

"Oh, of course!" Smiled Kaicen, patting the younger man. "Now, are you ready to give the crew another true tale of daring do?"

Looking up, tears still streaming down his face, happy tears this time, Usopp nodded. "Yeah… yeah I am!"

"Then let's go, Sogeking!" Kaicen cheered as he leapt to his feet, again forgetting about the manacles on his feet. "Let's kick their Marine AHH!" He cried as he found himself once more on his face in a heap on the floor.

"Ju… Just one th… thing…" Usopp cringed, his natural cowardice coming to the fore again. "The thing is that I have this terrible illness that flares up every time I break into a marine headquarters."

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**A.N: **There you go. Chapter III. I hope you enjoy it. Look for more Usopp goodness on the next chapter! 


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